There had been a Strigoi attack. Royal Court guardians were scurrying left and righf, and the panic was radiating in the room. They all rushed into the court room, and I stood waiting for Lissa who was equally, if not more panicked. She had worn business attire, a beige business top with a black tie, black vest, and black pants. She pulled hsr blonde hair into a ponytail and immediately walked out, and I trailed after her. "So you're telling me there's an allegiance of Strigoi who's attacking every Moroi housing they can reach?" The thought of it boggled my mind. She gave me a quick glance and looked away again, her head up high. "Rose, I understand you're concerned" More than concerned, afraid actually. "But like I said, I will explain everything when we get there." I hated the thought of waiting. I was the queen's guardian! Her best friend! Despite my protests, I kept silent until we reached the court room.

When we got there, the room immediately hushed. I spotted Dimitri standing next to Christian, who was ready with the others on the board. Lissa sat down and I stood next to Dimitri, brushing my hand against his as I surveyed the room. He gave me a quick smile before he switched back to his fierce mode and looked around the room as well. "Do you know anything?" I asked him, not averting my eyes. "Lissa isn't telling me anything and it's kind of pissing me off." I huffed and he squeezed my hand before saying, "I'm sure it's nothing to be impatient about, Roza." His voice was so gentle that it calmed me down a bit.

"Good people of the Royal Court." Lissa began. "Please calm down as I address the problem at hand and we together will come up with solutions to put an end to our panic." I saw people in the crown straighten up and some relax, and yet the tension was still radiating, I didn't need to be able to see aura's to know that. There was many Moroi who had come as well. "Recently, there has been a Strigoi attack." As she looked down at the paper in hand, I could see her stiffen. "There is a group of century or more old Strigoi who are killing every Moroi they are able to come by, on a path from Missouri to Illinois." She paused, and then continued. "We have reason to believe they are targeting the Royal Court." That statement by itself raised lots of whispers and panic. "No guardians are able to stop them, because it is not only Strigoi who are in the group." Even I was curious now, because humans couldn't have possibly been able to hold up guardians. Maybe if they were coming at them with a knife, but it's unlikely. Guardians were highly trained and probably would have thrown any human across the room with ease. That's why I froze when she said the next statement. "There are humans with them... and dhampirs too."

There was widespread panic and anger across the crowd. Dhampirs? Even the guardians standing side by side with us seemed taken aback and shocked, and I was completely aghast. Why? We're trained to protect Moroi, not kill them. I was filled with rage. It couldn't be. If you were a dhampir, you either became a guardian, or a blood whore. You could probably not become either and just disconnect yourself from vampire life, but that was it. Dhampirs were not Strigoi slaves. The council leader banged a gavel against the wooden table, and the crowd slowly became silent. "If you doubt this, we have several surviving witnesses who said they were able to spot at least 5 dhampirs and humans." She added. No one made a sound, but there was fear and anger and disbelief plastered on everyone's faces. Lissa looked back at me and I gave her a small nod. She then continued. "We can't afford anymore Moroi deaths. I, as your queen, want to protect everyone and not just this court." She was brave, and I admired that. "So I want to put a stop to them before they can shed more of our blood." I glanced up at Dimitri, who had that ever so familiar fierce look in his eyes, except it was a bit harder this time. I could see curiosity and His expression somewhat softened at the sight of me, and it was probably because I didn't do much of a good job at hiding my anxiousness. He laced his fingers with mine and looked back at Lissa.

Lissa set down the paper and spoke louder and more confidently this time. "We are sending out troops to help stop them. According to the witnesses, there should be at least 30 Strigoi, 10 Dhampirs, and 10 humans. By tonight, we are going to send 40 of our finest guardians, along with specially trained Moroi." I knew about the "specially trained moroi" After becoming queen and the news of her spirit magic becoming widespread over the Moroi world, many have identified as spirit users. Lissa had made an announcement a very long time ago about opening up training for Moroi who wanted to fight alongside Guardians when they are needed. Many of these had been fire users, but when the news about a Strigoi turning back with spirit magic and Mia being able to suffocate a Strigoi with water in Spokane, many spirit and water users had also applied. Soon enough, we had well over 200 Moroi who were training and becoming as good as the Guardians. Lissa also had every vampire school provide special classes for Moroi who wanted to train. However, they aren't needed unless there's an emergency. "The specially trained Moroi spirit users will wield spirit stakes to hopefully turn back some of their forces, so we can take them back here and hold them in custody. The rest will serve as backup and help." Some of the people in the crowd nodded, some shaking their head. The Moroi fighting along with Guardians dispute was still going on, but it didn't really matter. "We will have to take many assigned guardians as well, but in light of this, we were able to get more Guardians to guard the perimeter of the court buildings and keep on stakeout watch." Lots of dispute was going on now, and the council hitting the gavel again and dismissing the crowd made it louder. I let go of Dimitri's hand and ran to Lissa.

"You couldn't have just told me all this when I asked?" I asked her. "Rose, you're so impatient. Plus I still had a hard time believing it myself." We walked out of the Courtroom and back to her office room which was adjacent to the courtroom. We spent the rest of the day arranging plans and timing until it was time to leave. There were 8 black SUV's parked outside the court, with some cars pulling in and Guardians getting out. Dimitri and I were driving the lead car, and by 8 PM all the cars were loaded and we began driving towards Illinois. I was excited and yet fearful, what was I about to take on? 30 century old Strigoi and some of my own kind? It was all a blur to me but our roles in this mission were very clear and thorough. I kept my mind clear and kept on taking sips of coffee that Dimitri was able to grab before we left. "Just another day in the life of totally normal girl Rose Hathaway," I groaned. Dimitri grinned and grabbed the coffee from my hands before I could take another sip, and he began drinking some. "Didn't we get past the point of complaining?" He asked. He was right. But sometimes it just irks me that most other 19 year old girls would be attending college right now, going shopping and going to the beach. Instead, here I am, fighting for my race's life against evil immortal vampires and hoping I'll make it out alive.

After a miserable long day of driving, we reached Chicago, where we all parked our SUV's in different clubs and met up at a secluded Moroi headquarters. We gathered and talked about where we would find the group, how we would attack, simple Guardian things. We stayed in the Moroi headquarters overnight, which was pretty big. They had many, many rooms and Dimitri and I shared one. For a secluded headquarters, it didn't seem like anything I thought it would. There were soft light brown carpets in each room and each bed was a queen size. Hallways were plain white with glossy dark wood flooring, and some paintings hung up randomly. Most of them were simplistic Moroi paintings, of things like the elemental magics, a silver stake, and so on. In the central room where there was a head desk and plush brown couches, they had huge portraits of the Moroi kings and queens from the past to present, Lissa sitting in middle. I stared at it for a while, until I realized what time it was. I wasn't exactly exhausted, but I didn't care. I head to the room Dimitri and I chose and closed the door behind me, sinking to the ground. I sighed. Life was so unfair.